Downplayed: Bob and his friends (none of whom are known murderers) split up into gangs of two, despite the fact people who do that on TV usually run into some sort of trouble.

Justified:

Bob and his gang are literally unaware of the genre in question.

The genre in question may not actually exist in the world of the story; the audience knows what's going on but the Bob and his friends in the story have no frame of reference.

It may be harder to spot the actual genre you are in when it is you. The trails of blood might make it seem like a horror movie, rather than a sign that an Eldritch Abomination is looming just behind the door that the heroes are on their way to beat with the needed macguffin.

Unlike the audience, Bob and his friends don't actually know they're fictional and operating according to a series of genre conventions; since in Real Life most things that happen in stories don't actually happen, most situations aren't governed by genre conventions and most people don't actually act as if they're in a story 24/7 (and are considered mentally unstable at the least if they do), it stands to reason that the characters wouldn't act in such a way either.

Some genres might have similar signifiers, making it hard to tell which is which. The trail of blood might signify the presence of a hideous monster out to kill and eat you or a vicious serial killer on the hunt (horror); however, it might also signify that someone has been murdered in the heat of the moment during a domestic dispute (police procedural) or has accidentally cut themselves, has fallen unconscious due to blood loss and needs to be located and taken to hospital for emergency treatment right away (medical drama). It's much harder to be genre savvy with any degree of accuracy when you could be in one or the other, particularly the other is usually a bit more likely.

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